Metro Manila is famous—or make that infamous  – for two urban problems: Vehicular traffic and floods.

No administration has been able to address these twin problems with a  comprehensive solution.

The financial losses caused by the traffic problem often exacerbated by perennial flooding are staggering as they affect both the public and private sectors.

Various studies have placed the total tab at not less than P100 billion,

‘The losses amount to “more than P15-billion pesos yearly,” according to the NGO Citizens’ Traffic Watch, echoing a World Bank-commissioned study many years ago.

* The yearly economic cost is about P100 billion, according to Prof. Noriel Tiglao, who, together with Prof. Ricardo Sigua of the University of the Philippines’ National Center for Transportation Studies, prepared a paper entitled Economic Impact of Traffic Congestion in Metro Manila.

* The annual figure is P140 billion, according to the Department of Transportation and Communication, counting direct and indirect economic losses due to traffic congestion. Others believe that the figure is much more than this figure.

In order to permanently address these twin problems, a lawmaker has proposed a Malaysian solution.    

Infrastructure planners should consider putting up a Malaysian-type Stormwater Management and Road Tunnel on EDSA that would ease motor vehicle travel and help surrounding communities deal with potential flash flooding, House Deputy Majority Leader Roman Romulo said.

Romulo urged the Department of Public Works and Highways to study the feasibility of building under EDSA a dual-purpose tunnel patterned after Kuala Lumpur’s SMART storm drainage and road structure.

“The only option left is to construct a new motorway beneath EDSA, since it can no longer be widened, and we already have the Metro Rail Transit line over the main road,” he said in a statement.

The representative of the lone district of Pasig City in Congress was reacting to the DPWH’s plan, presented in a congressional budget hearing, to build either an elevated highway over EDSA or a tunnel below it to relieve traffic.

Malaysia put together its 9.7-kilometer SMART, a key national project, at a cost of $515 million or around P22 billion at the current exchange rate, he said.

“Assembled over four years, their SMART is basically a motorway and storm water tunnel in one that could be duplicated here,” he added.

Under normal conditions, Romulo said the two-channel tunnel serves as a motorway for light vehicles.

During the wet season, he said the tunnel has two modes. In the first mode, with light rainfall, some floodwater may be diverted into the lower bypass channel, while the upper section remains open to motor vehicle passage.

In the second mode, in the event of extreme storms, the upper channel is totally closed to all motor vehicle traffic and automated water-tight gates are opened to divert floodwaters.

“We have to change our way of life, even the way we design new roads, if we are to cope with brutal weather conditions, including excessive rainfall and severe floodwaters, in the years ahead,” Romulo said.

Once established as workable, he said the SMART project could be among the ventures lined up for implementation under the administration’s Public-Private Partnership  program.